cerned, there shall be brought in issue any rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice made or imposed by any State authority, or by the President, during the period of Federal control, the authorities of the State or States interested must be notified of the hearings in such cases, and the commission may confer and hold joint hearings with the authorities of the interested States. If, after hearing, the commission finds such rate, fare, charge, classification regulation, or practice causes undue or unreasonable advantage, preference, or prejudice as between persons or localities in intrastate commerce on the one hand and interstate or foreign commerce on the other hand, or any undue, unreasonable, or unjust discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce which is forbidden, it is authorized to prescribe the rate, fare, or charge, or the maximum or minimum, or maximum and minimum, thereafter to be charged, and the classification, regulation, or practice thereafter to be observed, in such manner as, in its judgment, will remove such advantage, preference, prejudice, or discrimination.

The act prohibits the charging of a higher rate for a shorter than for a longer haul over the same line in the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer haul, or the charging of any greater compensation as a through route than the aggregate of the intermediate rates subject to the act. It is provided, however, that the commission may, in special cases, after investigation, authorize carriers to charge less for longer than for shorter distances, and from time to time prescribe the extent to which such carriers may be relieved, subject, however, to the further proviso that in so doing the commission shall not permit the establishment of any charge to or from the more distant point that is not reasonably compensatory, or authorize a circuitous rail line, because of such circuity, to meet the charges of a more direct line to or from competitive points, and to maintain higher charges to or from an intermediate point on its line where the length of the haul on the petitioning line is not longer than that of the direct line between the competitive points, or authorize any such relief because of merely potential water competition not actually in existence.

The commission is authorized to require carriers to establish through routes and joint rates, and it may act summarily in itself establishing, temporarily, through routes when, in its opinion, shortage of equipment, congestion of traffic or other emergency exists. The act requires that divisions of joint rates shall be just, reasonable, and equitable, and authorizes the commission, upon complaint or upon its own initiative, after hearing, to prescribe the just, reasonable, and equitable divisions of such rates, and it may require readjustment of such divisions if it finds they have been unjust, unreasonable, or inequitable in the past. The commission is also authorized to require carriers subject to the act to construct switch connections with lateral branch lines of railroads and private sidetracks. The act provides that where two or more through routes and through rates shall have been established shippers shall have the right to designate in writing via which of such through routes the property shall be transported to destination. The act gives the commission authority over the routing of traffic after it arrives at the terminus or a junction point of a carrier and is to be there delivered to another carrier in cases where routing instructions have not been given by the shipper. Where diversion of routed freight occurs which is not in compliance with an order, rule, or regulation of the commission, the carrier or carriers so diverting the traffic are jointly and severally liable to the carriers deprived of its right to participate in the haul of the property.

The act authorizes the commission, under certain circumstances, upon such terms and conditions and subject to such rules and regulations as it may think just and reasonable, to permit the pooling of freights of different and competing railroads, and to divide the aggregate or net proceeds of the earnings of such railroads, and to permit the acquisition by one carrier of the control of another carrier in any manner not involving the consolidation of such carriers into a single system for ownership and operation. It requires the commission to prepare and adopt, as soon as practicable, a plan for the consolidation of railway properties of the continental United States into a limited number of systems. The act also provides that, with commission approval and in conformity with its plan of consolidation, the carriers may now merge, as well as consolidate, their properties, or any part thereof; they may now purchase, lease or contract to operate the properties, or any part thereof, of other carriers, or acquire stock control of other carriers; and a noncarrier corporation may acquire stock control of one or more carriers. It authorizes a consolidation of four express companies, and relieves carriers, when permission is so granted, from the restraints of the antitrust laws so far as may be necessary to effect such consolidations.

The commission has jurisdiction, upon complaint or in a proceeding instituted upon its own initiative, and after full hearing, to determine and prescribe reasonable rates, regulations, and practices, including minimum, and maximum and minimum, rates; and also minimum, and maximum and minimum, proportional rates to and from ports, and to award reparation to injured shippers. The transportation act also provides that actions at law by carriers to recover their charges shall be begun within three years from the time the cause of action accrues and not thereafter, and that complaints seeking reparation shall be instituted within two years from the time the cause of action accrues, except that where the carrier begins an action after the expiration of two years for the recovery of charges in respect of the same service, or within 90 days before such expiration, the proceeding before the commission may be begun within 90 days after such action by the carrier is begun. The act also provides that a cause of action against the carrier shall be deemed to accrue upon delivery or tender of delivery by the carrier of the property involved. The commission may also require carriers to cease and desist from unjust discrimination or undue or unreasonable preferences. By the act as amended February 28, 1920, it is provided that an order of the commission shall continue in force until its further order, or for a specified period of time, according as shall be prescribed in the order, unless modified or set aside by the commission, or set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Carriers are required to publish and file rates, rules, and regulations applying to interstate traffic and are prohibited from engaging in interstate transportation unless such rates, rules, and regulations are published and filed. Severe penalties are provided in the statute for failure to observe the rates and regulations shown in the published tariffs.

By the act of May 29, 1917, as amended on February 28, 1920, the commission is given extensive jurisdiction over the use, control, supply, movement, distribution, exchange, interchange, and return of locomotives, cars, and other vehicles, including special types of equipment and the supply of trains.

The commission may inquire into the management of the business of all common carriers subject to the provisions of the act to regulate commerce, and may prescribe the accounts, records, and memoranda which shall be kept by the carriers, which shall be open to examination by the commission through its authorized agents or examiners. Carriers are required to file annual reports with the commission and such other reports as the commission may from time to time require.

By the act of June 18, 1910 (Mann-Elkins law), the jurisdiction of the commission was increased as to through routes and joint rates, freight classification, switch connections, long and short hauls, filing or rejection of rate schedules, investigations on own motion, determining reasonable rates, suspension of proposed rates, and other matters. By the act of March 4, 1927, the maximum period during which the commission may suspend the operation of proposed schedules is fixed at not more than seven months, and it is provided that if the proceeding upon suspension is not concluded within that time the proposed schedule shall go into effect at the end of such period, but that the commission may require the carriers to keep account in detail of all amounts received by reason of increases in such rates and charges and, if the decision of the commission be adverse, require the carrier or carriers to refund with interest such portions of such increased rates or charges as by its decision shall be found not justified.

By act approved August 24, 1912 (sec. 11), a new paragraph was added to section 5 of the act to regulate commerce by which it is made unlawful after July 1, 1914, for any common carrier subject to the act to regulate commerce to own, lease, operate, control, or have any interest in any competing carrier by water. Jurisdiction is conferred upon the commission to determine questions of fact as to competition, after full hearing, on the application of any railroad company or other carrier and to extend beyond July 1, 1914, the time during which such ownership or operation of vessels plying elsewhere than through the Panama Canal may continue, when it is found to be in the interest of the public and of advantage to the convenience and commerce of the people and not in restraint of competition.

At the same time section 6 of the act was amended by adding a new paragraph conferring upon the commission jurisdiction over transportation of property from point to point in the United States by rail and water, whether through the Panama Canal or otherwise, and not entirely within the limits of a single State, this jurisdiction, under certain conditions, including power to establish physical connection between lines of the rail carrier and the dock of the water carrier by

directing the rail carrier to make such connection, to establish through routes and maximum joint rates over such rail and water lines, and to determine the conditions thereof, and to determine to what traffic and in connection with what vessels, and upon what terms and conditions such rates shall apply; and to require rail carriers entering into through routing arrangements with any water carrier to extend the privileges of such arrangements to other water carriers.

By the act approved March 1, 1913, as amended by act approved June 7, 1922, amending the act to regulate commerce, the commission is directed to investigate, ascertain, and report the value of all the property owned or used by every common carrier subject to the provisions of the act.

The act approved March 4, 1915, which became effective June 2, 1915, as amended August 9, 1916, makes common carriers liable for all loss, damage, or injury to property caused by them, and forbids, with certain exceptions, limitations of liability. As amended February 28, 1920, it is provided that where the loss, damage, or injury occurs while the property is in the custody of a carrier by water, the liability of such carrier shall be determined by and under the laws and regulations applicable to transportation by water, and that the liability of the initial carrier shall be the same as that of such carrier by water, except in connection with shipments to foreign destinations by water carriers whose vessels are registered under the laws of the United States, in which case it is made the duty of the carrier by railroad to deliver such shipments to the vessel as a part of its undertaking as a common carrier, but it is provided in this connection that the rail carrier shall not be liable after its delivery to the vessel. It is further provided that the 2-year period for the institution of suits against carriers for loss, damage, or injury shall be computed from the day when notice is given by the carrier to the claimant that the carrier has disallowed the claim or any part thereof.

The act approved April 23, 1930, modifies the requirements of this section as to notice and filing of claims.

The act as amended February 28, 1920, prohibits a carrier from issuing securities or from assuming obligations or liabilities as lessor, lessee, guarantor, indorser, surety, or otherwise, in respect of the securities of others from and after 120 days after the provision takes effect, except after having been authorized by the commission so to do; prescribes the conditions under which the commission may grant authorities to the carriers; the form and contents of applications which shall be made to the commission for such purposes; provides for the giving of notice by the commission of such applications to the governor of each State in which the applicant carrier operates; for hearings by the commission in respect of such applications; that carriers may issue certificates and assume obligations or liabilities without obtaining authority other than that of the commission, and for the issuance by the carrier without the consent of the commission of short-term notes in limited amounts, reports of which are, however, required to be filed with the commission. It is further provided that nothing in the act shall be construed to imply any guaranty or obligation as to such securities on the part of the United States. The act also provides for a right of action in favor of investors or purchasers in good faith and without notice of securities which, if not legally issued, are void, and for penalties against directors, officers, attorneys, or agents of carriers who knowingly assent to or concur in the issuance of securities, etc., contrary to the provisions of the commission's orders or grants of authority.

By the act approved August 18, 1922, the commission is required to direct, after notice and hearing, each carrier by rail, subject to this act, to issue at such offices as may be prescribed by the commission interchangeable mileage or scrip coupon tickets. The commission may in its discretion except from the provisions of this amendatory act, either in whole or in part, any carrier where the particular circumstances shown to the commission shall justify such exemption to be made.

As amended February 28, 1920, the act also required every common carrier by water in foreign commerce, whose vessels are registered under the laws of the United States, to file with the commission within 30 days after the provision becomes effective, and regularly thereafter as changes are made, a schedule, or schedules, showing for each of its steam vessels intended to load general cargo at ports in the United States for foreign destinations (a) the port of loading, (b) the dates upon which such vessels will commence to receive freight and dates of sailing, (c) the route and itinerary such vessels will follow and the ports of call for which cargo will be carried. It provides that such carriers by water shall, upon request, state their specific rates on any designated commodities

and for any scheduled sailing and shall state any port charges not absorbed in the railroad rate to the port. The act provides, also, for the publication and dissemination in compact form, for the information of shippers throughout the country, of the substance of such schedules and the furnishing of such publications to all railway carriers for distribution in such towns and cities as may be specified by the commission.

The amended act further provides for the issuance of through export bills of lading, in connection with such water carriers, to the point of destination; that such bills of lading shall name separately the charges to be paid for railway transportation, water transportation, and port charges, if any, not included in the rail or water transportation charges, and that the commission shall, in such manner as will preserve for the carrier by water the protection of limited liability provided by law, make rules and regulations and prescribe the form of such through bills of lading; it provides that the issuance of such through bills of lading shall not be held to constitute "an arrangement for continuous carriage or shipment" within the meaning of this act.

An act approved February 28, 1933, amends section 17 so as to authorize the commission to assign certain of its duties to an individual commissioner or to a board composed of employes.

An act approved May 3, 1933, amends the bankruptcy act by providing for proceedings for the reorganization of railroads, which proceedings may be instituted either by a petition of a railroad, filed in the appropriate Federal court, stating that the carrier is "insolvent or unable to meet its debts as they mature and that it desires to effect a reorganization," or by the filing of a similar petition, after commission approval, by the creditiors of a railroad whose claim aggregates not less than 5 per cent of its indebtedness. Many duties are imposed upon the commission by this act, including the naming of a panel of standing trustees; and the compensation of such trustees and their counsel, and reorganization managers, etc., are to be allowed by the court within maximum limits approved by the commission.

The emergency railroad transportation act, approved June 16, 1933, amends the provisions of section 5 relating to consolidation of the railroads of the country into a limited number of systems; with commission approval the carriers may merge as well as consolidate their properties or any part thereof and may purchase, lease or contract to operate the properties, or any part thereof, of other carriers, or acquire stock control of other carriers; a noncarrier corporation may acquire stock control of one or more carriers, and when so authorized by the commission such noncarrier corporations are to be considered and treated as carriers subject to the act for the purposes of its provisions relating to reports, accounts and issuance of securities. The same act provides for the termination of proceedings for recapture of excess income, and substitutes a new rule of rate making, under which the commission is required to give due consideration to the effect of rates on the movement of traffic; to the need in the public interest of adequate and efficient railroad transportation service at the lowest cost consistent with the furnishing of such service; and to the need of revenues sufficient to enable carriers under honest, economical and efficient management to provide such service.

RELATED ACTS AFFECTING INTERSTATE COMMERCE

Elkins Act.-The act of February 19, 1903, commonly called the Elkins law, prohibits rebating, allows proceedings in the courts by injunction to restrain departures from published rates, and provides that cases prosecuted under the direction of the Attorney General in the name of the commission shall be included within the expediting act of February 11, 1903.

District court jurisdiction act.-The urgent deficiency appropriation act approved October 22, 1913, provided that the Commerce Court should be abolished from and after December 31, 1913, and that the jurisdiction theretofore vested in the Commerce Court under act approved June 18, 1910, be transferred to and vested in the several district courts of the United States.

Expediting act. The act of February 11, 1903, provides that suits in equity brought under the act to regulate commerce wherein the United States is complainant may be expedited and given precedence over other suits, and that appeals from the circuit court (district court) lie only to the Supreme Court.

Federal control act.-The act known as the Federal control act, approved March 21, 1918, provides that the commission shall ascertain and certify to the President the average annual railway operating income, to be used by the President in making agreements for compensation for the use of the transportation. 20972°-73-2-1ST ED-31

systems of the country; that in case the amount of compensation is not adjusted, claims may be submitted to boards of referees appointed by the commission, and the finding of such boards shall be a maximum of compensation which may be paid to the carriers; that the President, in executing the Federal control act, may avail himself of the advice, assistance, and cooperation of the commission, its members, and its employees; that the President may initiate rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, and practices by filing same with the commission; that the commission shall upon complaint enter upon a hearing and determine the justness and reasonableness of any rate, fare, charge, classification, regulation, or practice initiated by the President, taking into consideration the fact that the railroads are operated under unified control and such recommendations as the President may make as to the necessity of increasing railway revenues. Transportation act, 1920.-The transportation act, 1920, as amended by act approved February 24, 1922, provides for the termination of Federal control and limits the powers the President may thereafter exercise under the Federal control act to those necessary to wind up and settle matters arising out of Federal control: for the turning over to the Secretary of War for operation and settling up of all matters arising out of Federal control in connection with boats, barges, tugs, and other facilities on the inland, canal, and coastwise waterways acquired by the United States under the Federal control act, and requiring him to provide terminal facilities for the interchange of traffic with carriers, and renders the operation of the boats and facilities subject to the provisions of the interstate commerce act to the same extent they would be if not owned by the United States. This act also authorizes the President to advance moneys to the carriers for certain purposes out of the revolving fund created by the Federal control act, and requires the commission to ascertain and certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amounts to be thus advanced to the carriers. It also provides for the appointment by the President of an agent to act as defendant in actions at law, suits in equity, proceedings in admiralty, and before the commission, based on matters arising out of Federal control, and confers upon the commission jurisdiction over all claims for reparation pertaining to the Federal control period, whether arising in respect of intrastate or interstate traffic; that pending actions, suits, proceedings, and reparation claims shall not abate, but that reparation awards in such cases shall be paid out of the revolving fund; that the period of Federal control shall not be computed as a part of the periods of limitation in actions against carriers or in claims for reparation based on causes of action arising out of matters pertaining to Federal control; and that a judgment in favor of the United States is the only one that may be levied against the property of the carrier where the judgment is based upon such matters.

The transportation act also continues in force until changed by lawful authority all rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations, and practices in effect on February 29, 1920, and prohibits reductions of such rates, fares, and charges prior to September 1, 1920, except with the approval of the commission. It provides certain guaranties of compensation for a period of six months from March 1, 1920, to all carriers which were entitled to the same under the Federal control act, and which on or before March 15, 1920, filed with the commission a written statement that they accepted the provisions and conditions upon which such guaranties are made. A similar guaranty under the same conditions of acceptance is made to the American Railway Express Co. that the contract between it and the Director General of Railroads shall remain in effect during the guaranty period in so far as the said contract constitutes a guaranty to the express company against a deficit in operating income. It provides for advances to the express company and the carriers to meet operating expenses and fixed charges, and that the commission after the expiration of the guaranty period shall ascertain and certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount due any carrier under the guaranty, and the amount of and the times at which such loans or advances shall be made to any carrier. The transportation act also provides for the inspection of carriers' records by the President or his agents until the affairs of Federal control are concluded, and for the refunding of carriers' indebtedness to the United States. It also authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make new loans to carriers upon certain conditions and upon favorable certification by the commission and creates a revolving fund of $300,000,000 out of which said loans are to be made and out of which certain judgments, decrees, and awards are to be paid.

Clayton Antitrust Act.-Jurisdiction is conferred upon the commission to enforce certain provisions of the act approved October 15, 1914, to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies in so far as such provisions relate to carriers subject to the act to regulate commerce. The act